CAMELOT FANTASIES

Wondrous Moment


 by Alexander Pushkin



 The wondrous moment of our meeting . . .
 I well remember you appear
 Before me like a vision fleeting,
 A beauty's angel pure and clear.

 In hopeless ennui surrounding
 The worldly bustle, to my ear
 For long your tender voice kept sounding,
 For long in dreams came features dear.

 Time passed. Unruly storms confounded
 Old dreams, and I from year to year
 Forgot how tender you had sounded,
 Your heavenly features once so dear.

 My backwoods days dragged slow and quiet —
Dull fence around, dark vault above —
Devoid of God and uninspired,
 Devoid of tears, of fire, of love.

 Sleep from my soul began retreating,
 And here you once again appear
 Before me like a vision fleeting,
 A beauty's angel pure and clear.

 In ecstasy the heart is beating,
 Old joys for it anew revive;
 Inspired and God-filled, it is greeting
 The fire, and tears, and love alive.